Thursday, 24 August 2017

One year later: Sketches of Europe's Northwest

Precisely one year ago I embarked upon one of the most exciting trips in my life. I called it "Sketches of Europe's Northwest" and published something between a photostory and a diary on Facebook, in the context of Brexit. At long last I found the time to compile all Facebook posts and Instagram pictures from the trip in one place and I'm offering them here. It was an unforgettable experience. Maybe it is even better that I am putting this together now, one year later, because it gave me the chance to go over these moments again. Captions are above eachimage. Click on image for larger version. Enjoy!

Travelling to Paris, France from Sofia International Airport.

19 August 2016 · Sofia

I am off to Paris, Belfast, Bristol and Cornwall on a ten-day trip which I am dubbing #SketchesOfEuropesNorthwest. I am going to cross from the hot, dry, yellow, azure, summery Southeast of the continent to the lush, green, grey, humid and refreshing Northwest. Two diametrically opposed but complementary faces of our cherished common European space - now rattled by a perfect storm of internal and external challenges.

The issue of Brexit cannot but be my silent companion along the way. After all, it is one of the secret reasons for which I chose to head northwest in the midst of an exuberant Balkan summer. Does Paris actually care about Brexit; is it simply gloating or it can’t wait to assume financial powers from London? What about the future of the Good Friday Agreement for Northern Ireland? Do unionists in the country regret voting to remain in the EU, now that there is renewed talk of a united island by nationalists? The Southwest of England: Bristol, home of some of my favourite musicians, massively elected to Remain (62%); nearby Cornwall saw a 56% Leave vote. Why so?

Apart from just exploring novel and long-yearned corners of Auld Europe, the restless type that I am, it is the simple, human answers to the above questions that I will be looking for, in word and in image. Stay tuned!

Checked in to Paris, France.

19 August 2016

Добро утро, Благоевград! [Good morning, Blagoevgrad! - an allusion to an old joke among Blagoevgrad people that their city is nothing less than Paris]

Travelling to Belfast, United Kingdom from Paris Aéroport -
Charles de Gaulle (CDG).

23 August 2016 · Roissy-En-France, France

Off to the capital of Northern Ireland, the next stop in my
trip across Northwestern Europe.

On Paris: The city is in a bland, even lethargic August
holiday mood. The first time I was here was in an October, and it was much
livelier. The weekend and especially Sunday saw empty streets and closed shops.
A wine shop dealer told me it was not unusual for August (of course the
tourists around the hotspots were abundant). Yet the city was powerful and
rewarding as always. We found exactly the spots we needed, from cosy hidden
streets to wine bars to open markets.

As for Brexit, my secret obsession, the little
impression I have is Parisians don't really care; this was my first hypothesis
at the outset. They are so absent-minded and neglige at this time of the year
that I suspect it's not only Brexit they don't care about. Our student hosts at
the airbnb flat watched the Olympics and drank till late taking about much more
exciting things. The bars, unlike those in Britain and the U.S., are not a
place for random discussions with strangers. Parisians adore eating and having
fun out, but keep strictly to themselves. I wouldn't dream of spoiling this
sacred mood. Can't wait now for my first pint on the Green Island.

The "Peace" wall dividing West #Belfast into southern Nationalist/Catholic &
northern Loyalist/Protestant areas. The former is around #FallsRoad, the latter
around #ShankillRoad #SketchesOfEuropesNorthwest #NorthernIreland

Travelling to Bristol, United Kingdom from Belfast
International Airport.

25 August 2016 · Belfast, United Kingdom

"All of the North voted to stay," said the lady at
the Sinn Fein office (and memorabilia shop) in Falls Rd, where the Republican,
Catholic residents of West Belfast live. She meant "all of Northern
Ireland," and was not quite right because seven out of 18 constituencies
here voted to Leave the EU. But 11 voted to Remain, or 55.8% of total ballots
cast, with places like West and South Belfast electing by around 70% to stay.
And it was not only the nationalists who voted that way - a large part of the
unionists of Belfast did the same.

A bloke at a pub in the Cathedral Quarter told me the 1.5
million people of Northern Ireland, or Ulster (as unionists call it) feel like
hostages to 54-million England about almost every decision. So it was with the
EU referendum too, when the English Midlands had their suffocating say. He also
said the Irish here were not into politics very much but could feel the
positives of EU membership: much of the development and refurbishment taking
place across Belfast was powered by European money, he said, and I could see
construction sites everywhere. I also read in the local press that Northern
Irish farmers feel particularly vulnerable after the Brexit vote (in the same
paper there was a piece quoting amazing figures, which we Eastern European
societies must only admire and try to emulate: 400 Irish emigrants are
returning to their home island every week!).

Belfast is a lovely, honest and intriguing city, especially
for those from the Balkans like myself who know the political and social
divisions of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia. The streets and quarters have a
special feel to them, the pubs are fascinating and welcoming and the people are
amiable and open. (Please don't go to the Titanic museum, though!)

I'm off now to England's Southwest for another intake
of this gorgeous United Kingdom.

Bristol, United Kingdom.

26 August 2016

Terraces. I was told Europe's steepest street is here
in #Bristol not in Sarajevo. #SketchesOfEuropesNorthwest #england

Devon.

26 August 2016

On the train to #Cornwall. #Devon
#SketchesOfEuropesNorthwest #Sharps #ale #beer

On my way back home after a thrilling Cornwall and a short
Bristol experience. I will never forget the honest, overwhelming joy that
exuded from every single person on the crowded Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth,
Cornwall, on that warm and sunny Friday in late August. I finally realised,
after years of exchange with the English and months of living in London or just
roaming the English cities, what really makes them happy: a beautiful summer
day on the beach, the English beach. I cannot but admire these honest human
feelings.

I had yearned to visit the English countryside for years,
and Cornwall was my prize. Amazing beaches and hilly land with ups and downs,
charming thatched houses as if taken from a Tolkien story, really friendly
people, the best cider I have tried (sorry, Ireland!), strong ales and
delicious food - especially the Cornish crab and pasties. Most of the tourists,
say 99%, were English. It was a German and a French group that we encountered
and us that made the difference. I really hoped to hear the Cornish language at
play but our airbnb hosts said it was not generally used and could be heard
only in club gatherings.

Bristol is a place to which I must devote a separate trip. I
fell for it but we only spent one night and then two hours on our way back. Not
enough, not even close.

We talked politics of course. It struck me how pro-European
Falmouth, the town which was our base, was. Our hosts were art people with
leftist inclinations: we certainly didn't agree on Corbyn's idea of Labour but
we did agree on Europe. They said Falmouth voted to Remain. I saw an EU flag
waving in front of an old semi-detached in the town centre.

My conclusion after this entire trip is that more and more
people in our western societies are falling hostages to the primitive,
irrational thinking of those that are angry. I don't think Britain is happy
about the outcome of the referendum vote. Even small communities like Falmouth,
Cornwall, have been explicit about their political preferences in a sea of
declared pessimists. It is ironic that we in Bulgaria have been hostages of a
similar, angry mass for a decade and a half now. Why is this repeating in
established democracies? Do the majorities of the 20th and early 21st
centuries, most of them middle class and working people, now perceive
themselves as disenfranchised minorities? I am inclined to think so vis-a-vis
the Brexit vote and the Trump phenomenon. I think political parties in the West
must reform and redraw their priorities urgently. Otherwise they will just
remain idle respondents to a major societal change. I don't think Corbyn,
Podemos or AfD are the answer.

About

I am based in Sofia, Bulgaria, formerly a journo and a researcher in the non-profit sector, now a civil servant fighting trafficking in human beings. I blog in English, Bulgarian and occasionally in some of the ex-Yugoslav languages about wine, travel and politics in the Balkans, the EU and its eastern neighbourhood. The name of the blog, излаз (izlaz), means 'egress,' 'outlet' in Bulgarian and 'exit' in Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian.